Clutch problems

I just spent a couple hundred hours or more making a custom chopper trike for my kids. It has a Kawasaki trike diff, and a Honda 9hp motor. I got a Noram 160155 14 tooth clutch to a 60 tooth drive sprocket. I was disappointed to see the clutch screaming hot and in the first five minutes of the trial run. I had to customize a 60 tooth sprocket to fit the diff. The stock sprocket was a #50 tooth pattern. Everything is very compact and tight fitting. Re building is not an option really. Would a change in clutch springs work? Thanks
 
Let's not blame the clutch. Not enough questions were asked when YOU got the clutch. Tire size is important in the factoring but to start with, the gear ratio is wrong. Minimum for the 14 tooth sprocket would have been 84 rear sprocket. You were stuck with the 14 tooth sprocket on the clutch because you have the 1" crankshaft.
There is only one speed for clutch and that is pedal to the metal as quick as possible to lock it up to give it a chance to cool down. You said your built it for your kids so there is a lot of stop and go driving as they get use to it, which is really hard on any clutch. Changing springs will not help.

Do you have enough room to get a torque converter in there? Since it is a trike, is it live axle turning both tires? The tire size is important. Are you mostly on flat land or hilly area? Are you going or long runs or a lot of stop and go? Are you driving full throttle most of the time? These are all the questions I ask before I tell the customer if the clutch will work or not in the application.
 
If the crank is 1" shaft, 14T is the smallest you can go. At that point, I think you will need a jackshaft to get the ratio where you want it.
Edit: (after seeing Jim's comment) a torque converter seems like the obvious fix.


-----
🏁Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Carlson Motorsports on Facebook
33 years of service to the karting industry ~ 1Cor 9:24
Linden, IN
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
 
Let's not blame the clutch. Not enough questions were asked when YOU got the clutch. Tire size is important in the factoring but to start with, the gear ratio is wrong. Minimum for the 14 tooth sprocket would have been 84 rear sprocket. You were stuck with the 14 tooth sprocket on the clutch because you have the 1" crankshaft.
There is only one speed for clutch and that is pedal to the metal as quick as possible to lock it up to give it a chance to cool down. You said your built it for your kids so there is a lot of stop and go driving as they get use to it, which is really hard on any clutch. Changing springs will not help.

Do you have enough room to get a torque converter in there? Since it is a trike, is it live axle turning both tires? The tire size is important. Are you mostly on flat land or hilly area? Are you going or long runs or a lot of stop and go? Are you driving full throttle most of the time? These are all the questions I ask before I tell the customer if the clutch will work or not in the application.
Hi, thanks for the response. I’m new to this. I bought the clutch from a kid in town new in the box and didn’t know about the clutch issues. I’m guessing that the only option will be a jack shaft. I can’t find a bigger sprocket on Amazon that I can machine the center hole out and drill my own bolt pattern like I did with my current one. It needs to be a solid one with no cutouts. No room for a torque converter. Yes hills, lots of stopping and starting. Thanks
 
Let's not blame the clutch. Not enough questions were asked when YOU got the clutch. Tire size is important in the factoring but to start with, the gear ratio is wrong. Minimum for the 14 tooth sprocket would have been 84 rear sprocket. You were stuck with the 14 tooth sprocket on the clutch because you have the 1" crankshaft.
There is only one speed for clutch and that is pedal to the metal as quick as possible to lock it up to give it a chance to cool down. You said your built it for your kids so there is a lot of stop and go driving as they get use to it, which is really hard on any clutch. Changing springs will not help.

Do you have enough room to get a torque converter in there? Since it is a trike, is it live axle turning both tires? The tire size is important. Are you mostly on flat land or hilly area? Are you going or long runs or a lot of stop and go? Are you driving full throttle most of the time? These are all the questions I ask before I tell the customer if the clutch will work or not in the application.
It has a trike differential, not a solid axle.
 
If the crank is 1" shaft, 14T is the smallest you can go. At that point, I think you will need a jackshaft to get the ratio where you want it.
Edit: (after seeing Jim's comment) a torque converter seems like the obvious fix.


-----
🏁Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Carlson Motorsports on Facebook
33 years of service to the karting industry ~ 1Cor 9:24
Linden, IN
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
Thanks. I think my only option will be a hack shaft setup which will be quite difficult to fit in but possibly doable.
 
Hi, thanks for the response. I’m new to this. I bought the clutch from a kid in town new in the box and didn’t know about the clutch issues. I’m guessing that the only option will be a jack shaft. I can’t find a bigger sprocket on Amazon that I can machine the center hole out and drill my own bolt pattern like I did with my current one. It needs to be a solid one with no cutouts. No room for a torque converter. Yes hills, lots of stopping and starting. Thanks
The stock axle came with a bigger 520 pattern sprocket, but I can’t find a clutch with that pattern. Everything was done on a budget here.
 
If the crank is 1" shaft, 14T is the smallest you can go. At that point, I think you will need a jackshaft to get the ratio where you want it.
Edit: (after seeing Jim's comment) a torque converter seems like the obvious fix.


-----
🏁Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Carlson Motorsports on Facebook
33 years of service to the karting industry ~ 1Cor 9:24
Linden, IN
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
Do you think a 6:1 would work?
 
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Mount the jack shaft behind and down below the engine .
Torque converter would work in that situation also .
A couple pillow blocks and sprockets a shaft
add a bumper of sorts to hold and cover it , so no fingers/ hair gets caught up .
 
Thanks. Side play? It seems to fit exactly on the shaft. No room for adjustment if that’s what you mean. I had to turn the clutch around, with the sprocket on the inside to fit the tight parameters between the wheels.
The clutch should float (side to side movement of the entire clutch assembly, not just the drum) on the driveshaft slightly. If it's locked up tight it will overheat and do it rather quickly since the clutch can't self align. Use a washer or two to allow the clutch to float no more than .100" and that should fix your problem.

EDIT: Just thought of this after posting that. How tight is your chain? You need some play in that as well.
 
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The clutch should float (side to side movement of the entire clutch assembly, not just the drum) on the driveshaft slightly. If it's locked up tight it will overheat and do it rather quickly since the clutch can't self align. Use a washer or two to allow the clutch to float no more than .100" and that should fix your problem.

EDIT: Just thought of this after posting that. How tight is your chain? You need some play in that as well.
Thanks for the info. The chain has a homemade tensioner with a spring and Teflon slider. I’ll check the side play. As I recall it has none. It was new out of the box like that. I’ll fiddle around with the tensioner too. Thanks again.
 
Mount the jack shaft behind and down below the engine .
Torque converter would work in that situation also .
A couple pillow blocks and sprockets a shaft
add a bumper of sorts to hold and cover it , so no fingers/ hair gets caught up .
That’s my plan. I built an extensive chain guard and it’s too bad that I have to probably discard it. Maybe I can modify and add to it to cover the jack shaft too. Just painted it. Now I have to cut and grind some more. I guess that’s par for the course. Sitting here planning on how to mount a die grinder on my lathe tool holder to cut a groove in a shaft. Seen it done. Works pretty good. Thanks for the response.
 
torque converter is the only thing that will work well .
A belt drive with hand clutch engagment , might , Belts would be cheap too replace .
Im with jim a 84 -90 tooth .
Laser cut or water jet one . Maybe mill a 50 thinner .
Good idea. I will consider this. I have about one inch of available space for a larger sprocket.
 
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